Vidit Gujrathi spent Diwali where he likes it best, at home in Nashik. A quiet festival at home. Then, on Monday evening, came the firecracker. Team Apex Gaming announced that GM Vidit Gujrathi has joined the organisation. "Every great game needs a Grandmaster. Ours just arrived. Welcome, Vidit Gujrathi," said the post, shared on Instagram by TAG and Vidit together. The video shows Vidit at the board with a blindfold on, and the line on screen says it all: "Ankhon pe patti hai, fir bhi itna sukoon" (blindfolded, and still this calm). In 16 hours the post crossed 85,000 likes. Vidit's own words on X were short: "Happy to be part of Team Apex Gaming. Let's kill it!"
twitter.com/i/status/2119817320604602879
The guessing had started on Saturday, when TAG put out a 33-second teaser, a hand, a board, a ring and a watch, with the words "The national treasure has a new home!" Fans named Vidit within minutes. They were right.
Team Apex Gaming is the esports organisation that Jonathan Amaral, better known as Jonathan Gaming, one of India's biggest BGMI stars with more than 8 million YouTube subscribers, launched in April 2026. It started with BGMI, added Free Fire and EA FC Mobile, has Kick and Red Bull India as sponsors, and Vidit is its first chess player.
Vidit (2693) is India no.6, the winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023, a Candidate in 2024 and a two-time Olympiad gold medallist with India. He is no stranger to the esports world either: earlier this year he reached the final of India Rising, the qualifier for the Esports World Cup, and missed Paris only after losing an Armageddon to GM Benjamin Bok. With Arjun Erigaisi at Gen.G, and Nihal Sarin, Aravindh Chithambaram and M. Pranesh at S8UL, Vidit becomes the fifth Indian GM with an esports home.
A grandmaster who streams, builds AI tools for chess and now has a gaming organisation behind him. Congratulations, Vidit! We hope this means a lot more of you on stream, blindfolded or not!
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